For Birdie, we've definitely had do deal with some emotional spin-out after school during the latter part of the week and over the weekend, however, she has come home from it pretty pumped and excited almost everyday.  She has the coolest teacher and they'll be doing many fabulous projects - like raising trout in the classroom - this year.  I really feel that she wil thrive in this social environment, which is why I chose the school.  Her class is predominately girls and they are a very kind, generous of spirit bunch.  The school has a focus on providing a nurturing, family-like environment and have an honor code that they take quite seriously.  She is transitioning the way I expected she would only more quickly, chattering on the way home about everything they did that day.

My big girl was in no mood to allow me to take a first day of school photo of her.  She was, in fact, in no mood to go to that first day of school.  She survived it though.  The second day she came home much less stressed or at least much less visibly stressed.  Day three, she seemed to have a little spring in her step.  She had stayed after for cross country.  I insisted that she join a Fall Sport because she had to give up PE to fit in classes for the Arts Emphasis program she wanted to do.  She, resister of exercise and social environs, came out of there telling me she enjoyed cross country.  On Friday, when I picked her up, she was about to burst with excitement.  The academic dean called her into his office to see if they could move her out of her algebra class.  She fully expected to be moved into pre-algebra.  Instead they asked if they could put her in honors algebra.  They seemed surprised at how surprised she was.  I am relieved and delighted by her enthusiasm to rise to the challenge - enthusiasm I haven't seen in a long time - and challenge...to make Arts Emphasis work, we had to rearrange her schedule so she now has some classes geared towards sophomores and juniors, plus the honors algebra.  I know she has at least three research papers this year as well.

I feel like I'm getting my girl back.  I haven't seen her assimilate so quickly into a group and with such confidence since we joined SHARE (one of our old homeschool co-ops).  I've had butterflies in my stomach for days.  not the nervous ones, the effervescent, giggly ones.  Could this actually be all I had hoped it would be?

Finally, we have come to the end of weeks of doing therapeutic brushing with her every TWO hours!

Finally, we will stop driving to Charlottesville twice a week for back to back appointments with a tutor and with her occupational therapist.

Finally, the back to school clothes/uniforms and books have all arrived.

Finally, all of the paperwork, physicians forms and checks have been turned in to schools.

Finally, I can see coming, enough time to prepare the foods to keep us on track with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

and Finally, I had time to process some of those prolific Roma tomatoes from our garden.

Finally, I feel like I can breath.

My youngest has had so many nicknames over the course of her eight years that I wouldn't be exaggerating to say they neared fifty.  One of them that we seem to use most often currently is Birdie so, I think that's how I'll refer to her here.

I don't know anyone who gets as excited about holidays or parties as Birdie.  As a toddler and young child, she constantly got into the holiday decorations and went to town decorating no matter what the holiday or what time of year it was.  It's all so magical for her.  Just last night she worked frantically before my husband got home from work.  She picked petunias and wove them through the front gate.  Various colored flower petals were strewn upon the sidewalk leading to the front porch steps where she had staged various outdoor toys and decor creating this grand entrance when he arrived home.  It was really past when I wanted her in bed, but I let her sit out on the porch to watch for his reaction.  I so often feel like I'm crushing this decorating, party giving fairy in her because it's so darn messy and impractical.  Last night there was not a good enough reason to not go with it.

So, a couple of weeks ago, when Birdie turned eight, the pressure was on to create a little magic, especially in light of the fact that for the first time ever, there was no real party to speak of.  On birthday eve, my husband came home late with a mylar butterfly balloon and some crepe paper.  We arranged her gifts on top of the piano with some of her little stuffed animals.  The crepe paper guided your eye to that focal point.  There were pink, yellow and orange roses sent by my aunt.  The clasp at the end of the string meant to secure the balloon in place held her cards as though the butterfly had just flown in to deliver them.  Birdie herself had decorated the dry erase board with a big happy birthday message.  It was a hit.  Her delight was something I experienced on Christmas mornings as a child.

I hope that I can foster that excitement and magical spirit in her and that it continues to be infectious to those around her.

Once they made it past the extremely loud, but fortunately only slightly inappropriate preview (notice that was singular - only one ad - whew), they did beautifully with the movie.  That was a big relief for me because I had been unable to locate ear protection for them to deal with the overwhelming sound of the movies.  One of the wonderful things about getting them together is that they are willing to try things that they are usually too afraid to.  They support each other and know that the other completely understands (and lives) what they are going through.  It lets them feel the confidence to reach a little farther than their comfort level, knowing they'll be understood.

As far as the movie, I was impressed that they just let the story be what it was without feeling the need to add anything sensational or adult humor.  It's o.k. for a kid's movie to be a kid's movie.  Really, it is.  And it's o.k. for adults to enjoy it as such, or not.

The two of them held  hands and skipped as we left the theater, as we crossed the street and as we made our way up the alley to my car.  They continued their joyful play out in the yard and could be overheard running from "Jiggy Nye".  Apparently, they had switched to another American Girl story, that of Felicity.  J. also got to show off her "fairy garden" to our visitors and when best friend's sisters went to bed, they got to stay up and play a board game with the moms who, then got to have their own fun.

It is a joy to have friends who I can kick back with over some tequila and talk about ANYTHING, including the fact that we treasure, honor and protect the innocence of childhood.

Though homeschooling, which I feel passionately about, has not been the positive experience since our move that it had in the past, I do not kid myself that this school year will be any easier for us.  This will be a year of big adjustments.  The girls have a total lifestyle change ahead of them in about a month.  And I will be doing just as much as I had been but, now the focus will be on helping them adjust to the classroom setting.  For my youngest, who deals with sensory integration issues, this will be exhausting.  I know that it will be worth the struggle and that this school will be a beautiful match for her socially.  It's going to take all I have to travel, have medical procedures, then help my girls with things like occupational therapy and different ways of organizing and scheduling their days.  There are certain things I have to let go of as far as my own educational philosophy of how children best learn and teach them strategies for how be sucessful in a school setting, all while trying to stick to our strict diet.

So, I begin this new chapter of our lives

 - hopeful... for the happiness that comes from making friends; for the opportunities and different experiences than I have been unable to supply recently; and for the strangely new time to focus on myself

 - and with a little sadness... for all of the beautiful time we have been able to spend together; for the Colonial Fair we hosted; for the bitter cold, rainy February day at Mount Vernon when there were (for once) no crowds and our little co-op could spend the entire day retaking the tour and asking prolonged questions of different interpreters; for the ability to change our schedule and spend hours on composing a song; for spending beautiful Shenandoah days together at a park or building a snowman during "school hours"; for the comradery of a group like SHARE at Home where I had as much fun with the moms as my girls had with their kids; and for being there to witness those a-ha moments when my kids grasp a new concept.

It is a bittersweet time filled with questions of what life will bring and excitement about new adventures.  So, we go forth.  We prepare for another chapter.

a month ago when we visited them 

This has been a rough year for us as I have written a little about on this little forum.  My eldest daughter has suffered during our transition to Staunton.  We had been a part of several co-ops in Richmond which gave her the opportunity for group learning (something she has always desired since leaving Montessori after second grade) on a regular and frequent basis.  Though I would love nothing more than to have her spend her high school years as an independent study, maybe taking some community college classes and perhaps working some, she is just not in a position to do that.  I have seen her motivation plummet, not just since we moved here.  Honestly, it started before that but, was quite manageable within the structure that she had with all of the co-ops.  I initially tried to back off of academics for her this year, allowing her space to just find herself.  This helped her tremendously in some ways.  She found herself creatively and had a burst of artistic expression, mostly through writing, especially songs.  The growth was impressive.

I also found that she was somewhat stifled in other areas where she shows aptitude.  She has really missed the intellectual stimulation that she is used to having.  Another thing that I found was that even though when we moved to Staunton part of the plan was to be driving less, I needed to drive more to try to attain that intellectual stimulation.  Having the girls in the car all of the time is not what I want for them, for the environment or for my pocketbook.  I made the decision rather abruptly as though a light suddenly switched on.

So, here I am, someone who never had any interest in prep. school, sending my daughter to one.  The school seems to be just the right ticket and truly wonderful.  What makes it a good match for her is that it is very small overall and has a small student/teacher ratio.  The school really values their honor code which is right up her alley and it is a very nurturing, family-like environment.  They will completely walk her through the whole college preparation and application process (and the fact that they have 100% college placement certainly doesn't hurt).  To top things off, she can do an arts focus for high school which really interests her.  Even though we made this decision so late in the year, I am happy to say that she has been offered enrollment and we have accepted.  She has already devoured her assigned summer reading and started writing her responses.

Big changes.  Although it will be strange for me after homeschooling her for six years and strange for her (she's never received a grade in her life, nor taken more than two tests), we're excited about our new adventure.

not pictured - the gallon of honey I purchased; some deeelicious cheddar w/cracked pepper & baby swiss; locally roasted coffee; and finally the tasty beef, pork & butter from Back Door Butcher

Yesterday's Farmer's Market got off to a slow start with the rainy weather.  I hope things picked up for them.  I know that the Nellysford Farmer's Market had to be cancelled due to the heavy rains down that way.  Personally, I enjoyed shopping early in the cool morning just after a rain with no crowds but, maybe that's just me.

I love the familiarity I'm developing with several of the vendors who I feel I'm coming to know after shopping from them every week.  I just wish I could buy something from everyone who works so hard to bring us sustenance from their direct and local labor. 

While the strawberries are gone, I was delighted to see some wild raspberries - so delicate and fresh.  I also bought the best looking shiitake mushrooms I've ever gotten.  Both of these items were gathered by the people at Hungry Hill Farm in Nelson County.  They usually sell (& I usually buy) honey and it was great to see them able to pull in some supplimentary things.

I'm finally back on track with trying to actually plan out a menu a little.  Last night was grilled ribeyes, grilled young crookneck squash and an Asian inspired asparagus shiitake salad.  Tonight it's grilled pork chops, green beans and tomatoes with fresh basil marinated in my SCD mock balsamic.   We'll see how well I'm able to stay on top of my menu planning with all of the doctor's appointments and having hubby's high school best friend in town.  My plan this week is get purchase a dehydrator to preserve all of the tomatoes that are about to come rolling in.

A fuzzy photo I shot of me and my friend, Sonya, while soaring through the Shenandoah skies

Two months ago my friend took me with her on a hot air balloon ride in the gorgeous countryside between Staunton and Harrisonburg.  It was research for an article she was writing on summer adventures for our local monthly publication.  I didn't know how I would do because I am intermittently afraid of heights.  Well, fortunately, I wasn't this time.

our gorgeous neck of the woods
crazy cows! first running towards us, then stampeding in a circle away from us
scale - balloon vs. church
this was really hot and really loud

This was yet another way for me to appreciate the beauty of where I live.  Unlike myself, I have not become jaded to the views I enjoy daily, whether I'm headed to Sherando Lake to sit, look and listen or just running to the grocery store with the spectacular Blue Ridge mountains on the horizon.  Every single day, I mindfully appreciate what I have here.  As much as I enjoy the view from my car, my bedroom window, or from the top of Sear's Hill, it was quite an event to be able to appreciate it from the sky.